THE EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM AIR TEMPERATURE AND OUTDOOR AIR SUPPLY RATE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SCHOOL WORK BY CHILDREN

摘要

A field intervention experiment was conducted in two classes of 10-year-old children. Average air temperatures were reduced from 23.6°C to 20°C and outdoor air supply rates were increased from 5.2 to 9.6 L/s per person in a 2x2 crossover design, each condition lasting a week. Tasks representing 8 different aspects of school work, from reading to mathematics, were performed during appropriate lessons and the children marked visual-analogue scales each week to indicate SBS symptom intensity. Increased ventilation rate increased work rate in addition,multiplication and number checking (P＜0.05), and subtraction (P＜0.06). Reduced temperature increased work rate in subtraction and reading (P＜0.001), and reduced errors when checking a transcript against a recorded voice reading aloud (P＜0.07). Reduced temperature at increased ventilation rate increased work rate in a test of logical thinking (P＜0.03). This experiment indicates that improving classroom conditions can substantially improve the performance of schoolwork by children.